A High Court sitting in Ibadan has discharged and acquitted former Oyo State House of Assembly Chief whip, Olafisoye Akinmoyede, and three others, charged with the murder of Temitope Olatoye, also known as Sugar.
Mr Olatoye, who represented Lagelu/Akinyele federal constituency in the House of Representatives, was killed during the March 9 governorship and house of assembly elections at Lalupon area of Lagelu LGA.
Justice Maruf Adegbola, on Thursday, also discharged Rafiu Adebayo, Rasheed Oladele and Kazeem Ayinde.
Justice Adegbola ruled that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubts.
He said the prosecution did not show any evidence in court that the defendants were at the scene of the crime.
“The evidence before the court exonerated the defendants. The prosecution has not established any nexus to connect any of the defendants to the murder of Olatoye and I, therefore, hold that the prosecution has not proved any of the ingredients relating to the charges against the defendants,” Adegbola said.
“The prosecution failed totally to prove any of the ingredients of the offence of murder against the accused persons.
“It will amount to turning on the defendants to prove their innocence which is not a requirement of the Nigeria criminal justice system, in fact, doing so, contravenes section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the rights of the defendants.
“The prosecution has not established any of the ingredients of the offence of murder charged so as to warrant the court to ask the defendants to enter its defense